Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama has claimed victory in the country's first democratic elections in eight years.

"My fellow Fijians, as you know Fiji First has won the general elections and I will lead the new government to serve the nation," he told thousands of cheering supporters gathered in a sports stadium.

The 60-year-old ruler,a former naval officer who has twice seized power in Fiji via military coup, has been prime minister of Fiji since 2007.

Although the final vote count has not been released, provisional results show Mr Bainimarama's Fiji First Party heading towards a clear victory.

Fijian people have put their trust in me to lead them into our new and true democracy

Fiji prime minister Frank Bainimarama

The latest figures from the Fiji Electoral Office showed Fiji First with 59.1 per cent support after votes had been counted at 88 per cent of the polling booths.

The Social Democratic Liberal Party was a distant second at 28.3 per cent.

Conduct of election wins praise from observers

The poll conducted on Wednesday was broadly praised by a 92-member international observer group, despite opposition accusations of fraud.

On Sunday, with 90 per cent of the vote counted, Mr Bainimarama delivered a victory speech in which he thanked the military forces for standing by him since 2000.

"I am deeply honoured and humbled that the Fijian people have put their trust in me to lead them into our new and true democracy," Mr Bainimarama told the crowd in Suva.

"My absolute promise [is] that we will govern for the well being of all Fijians."

Mr Bainimarama seized on a long-simmering rivalry between indigenous Fijian nationalists and minority ethnic Indians, the economically powerful descendants of labourers brought by the British to work sugarcane fields, to justify his coup in 2006.

In 2000, ethnic Fijians held the first Indo-Fijian prime minister hostage in parliament for 56 days, in a coup that began with deadly riots in the streets of the capital Suva.

Mr Bainimarama was brought in to head the interim military government installed after a counter-coup.

Australia said on Friday that it looked forward to working with the new government after provisional results put Mr Bainimarama's party in the lead.

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